HT Correspondent
DIBRUGARH, Feb 23: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the influential Assam Tea Tribe Students’ Association (ATTSA), Dibrugarh district unit, has urged the BJP leadership not to field incumbent Dibrugarh MP Rameswar Teli as the BJP candidate from the Dibrugarh constituency.
Speaking to media persons at Dibrugarh Sahitya Sabha Bhawan on Friday, Bimal Bagh, president of ATTSA, Dibrugarh, said, “We don’t want Rameswar Teli to contest from the Dibrugarh seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections because he failed to address the issues of the tea tribe during his last 10-year term. He was a complete failure as a Dibrugarh MP. We don’t want him again from Dibrugarh. We urge the BJP leadership to introduce a new face this time who will address our burning issues.”
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“If the BJP leadership again fields Rameswar Teli from the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat, then we will stop BJP leaders from entering tea garden areas. We are very dissatisfied with him because he failed to address the burning issues of the tea tribe in the parliament. We have never seen him voicing our issues in the parliament,” Bagh stated.
He added, “Instead of Rameswar Teli, the BJP leadership should field a new face from the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat. He didn’t raise his voice for the tea tribe people. We are fighting for ST status, land patta, and many other burning issues, but despite knowing everything, Rameswar Teli remained a ‘mute spectator’ and didn’t support these genuine demands.”
Tea tribe people play a significant role during elections, particularly in Upper Assam, as they constitute a large portion of the population. The Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency is one of the major constituencies in Assam where tea garden candidates were given first priority.
“Rameswar Teli didn’t think for the welfare of our people because in the last 10 years, he did nothing for us. Many tea gardens’ lands were sold, but the Dibrugarh MP didn’t raise his voice. To date, many tea garden workers haven’t received their PF from the company, and despite many deaths among the workers, justice has not been served to the families,” said Lakhindra Kurmi, secretary, Dibrugarh district.
He continued, “Land brokers and tea garden owners are selling garden land, but the Dibrugarh MP, despite being aware of everything, didn’t speak up on the issue. 500 bighas of Bokel Tea Garden land and 64 bighas of Suraj Tea Estate land were sold. There are many tea estates in Dibrugarh where tea garden lands were sold.”
